Stella Award (funny stuff)

[Bree]

Friend sent this to me:

Stella Liebeck is the 81 year old lady who spilled coffee on herself
and sued McDonalds. This case inspired an annual award - The "Stella"
Award for the most frivolous lawsuits in the U.S. The following are
previous year's
candidates:

1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded
$780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over
a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the
store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the
misbehaving little bastard was Ms. Robertson's son.

2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and
medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda
Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the
wheel of the car, when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was
leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He
was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door
opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re enter the house because the
door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut.
The family was on vacation. Mr.Dickson found himself locked in the
garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a
large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming
the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the
tune of half a million dollars.

4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded
$14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his
next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's
fenced-in yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt
the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr.
Williams who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson
of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink
and broke her coccyx. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson
threw it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued
the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the
bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth.
This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window
in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was
awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.

And the winner is: Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November
2000 Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home.
On his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise
control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back
and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly the Winnie left the
freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not
advising him in the handbook that he couldn't actually do this. He was
awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie. (Winnebago actually changed
their handbooks on the back of this court case, just in case there are
any other complete morons buying their vehicles.